APC Kicks as PDP Says Tinubu’s Emergence as Candidate Invalid

*Opposition party insists ruling party has no plan for Nigeria 

*APC to inaugurate women campaign council

Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday kicked against the claim by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the ruling party has no valid presidential candidate for the 2023 general election.

The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Debo Ologunagba had asked the presidential candidate of the ruling party, Senator Bola Tinubu, to seek legal advice on the implications of last month’s court judgment that declared as nullity the tenure of Governor Mai Mala Buni as the chairman of the party’s national caretaker committee.

The main opposition party also urged Tinubu to account for the consequences and implications of the discrepancies in his academic qualifications and other controversies associated with him.
Also, as the APC plans to kick off its campaigns with the inauguration of its Women Presidential Campaign Team led by the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, on Monday, the PDP Presidential Campaign Council has said the ruling party has no plan to better the lots of Nigerians.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Ologunagba also urged Tinubu “to go home and face the issues of inconsistencies in his educational qualifications, name, ancestry, age as well as corruption allegations.”
“In any case, the APC candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nothing to offer being the architect of the woes, calamities and life-discounting experiences faced by Nigerians in the last seven and half years,” the PDP spokesman stated.

Olugunagba, who spoke on the consequences of the Federal High Court judgment on the tenure of the former interim chairman said, “as you are aware, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday, September 30, 2022, nullified the candidature of Governor Gboyega Oyetola in the July 16, 2022, Osun State governorship election on the ground that his nomination was invalid, having been conducted and submitted by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, in violation of Section 183 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.

According to him, “the import of the September 30, 2022 judgment of the Federal High Court is that every decision made by Governor Mai Mala Buni as Chairman of the APC is null and void as you cannot place something on nothing and expect it to stand.”
“Consequently, the Congresses, as well as the National Convention which produced APC Excos including the Senator Adamu Abdullahi-led NWC, is void”, the PDP spokesman said.

He argued that the primaries and presidential convention conducted by the Abdullahi-led NWC, including the nomination of Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the APC “is invalid, null and void ab initio.”
Ologunagba said that the APC had become prostrate, handicapped and incapacitated to campaign as it has no valid candidate for the 2023 general election.
He urged Nigerians to recall that the PDP had on February 22, 2022, and March 8, 2022, raised the alarm that with its foisting of an illegal and unconstitutional leadership, the APC had become “legally defunct, structurally crippled and no longer a legitimate and valid vehicle to field candidates for elections under our laws.”

He announced that the PDP would officially flag off its 2023 presidential election campaign on Monday, October 10, 2022, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.
He said from the party’s consultations across the six geo-political zones of the country, it is clear that Nigerians across the board, irrespective of religion, ethnicity and even political affiliations accept the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar as the best candidate with the practical experience, capacity, broad-mindedness and willpower to unite the country.

Meanwhile, the PDP Presidential Campaign Council has said the ruling party had no plan to better the lots of Nigerians.
It said in the past seven years, the ruling party had continued to mismanage the nation’s diversity, economy, education, and security architecture.
Reacting, the APC dismissed Ologunagba’s statement, saying he should seek clarification.

APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, stated that the Federal High Court judgment was flawed.
Morka said, “I am confident that the decision will not pass appellate court’s scrutiny. For one, the decision flies in the face of a valid and subsisting majority Supreme Court decision in Akeredolu’s case which settled the question as to the validity of Mai Mala Buni Caretaker Committee.
“In any event, that committee was duly constituted by the NEC of the APC and everything done by the caretaker committee was duly ratified by the national convention, the highest decision-making organ of the party. Clearly, we stand on strong legal ground and are unperturbed by that decision.”

Also, speaking yesterday on the “Morning Show,” a programme on ARISE NEWS Channel, a spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, said the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku, would energise the country’s private sector to drive the nation’s economy to provide jobs for the people.
While reacting to allegations by the Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed that the PDP copied from what the APC was doing, Aniagwu said the APC had no single plan to copy from, adding that Atiku had long prepared his policy document titled “My Covenant With Nigerians”.
According to him, the APC has no single plan to develop the country.
“If they had a plan, Nigeria would not be where we are today, because they would have known that it was important to manage our diversity so that everybody is well taken care of.

“Nigerians helped them to power in 2015 and they left them behind after failing to fulfil all their campaign promises.
“Atiku’s plan for Nigeria is generic and it is resting on the fact that our presidential candidate and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa understand what the issues are.
“Atiku didn’t just wake up to declare for president; he has been preparing for this over time and he is adequately apprised with what it takes to indeed rescue and rebuild Nigeria,” he said.

Aniagwu who is also Delta State Commissioner for Information said only Atiku was prepared to lead as other candidates weren’t ready with their plans.
“Each time you ask other presidential candidates they will tell you that they will soon come up with their manifesto and that tells you that they are not prepared for the task ahead.
“Nigeria is currently at an intensive care unit and does not require a leader who is not adequately prepared to lead her out of its present challenges,” Aniagwu added.

In a related development, the APC will on Monday kick off its campaigns with the inauguration of the APC Women Presidential Campaign Team.
 First Lady, Aisha Buhari, was last week announced as the grand patron of the women’s wing of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Team.
The wife of the presidential candidate, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, and the wife of the vice presidential candidate, Nana Shettima, will serve as chairman and co-Chairman, respectively.
The organising committee of the Tinubu/Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Team said the formal inauguration of members of its various committees would be held at the Presidential Villa.